For most people, putting on a pair of socks is a daily task that it taken for granted and accomplished without difficulty of any kind. It is a simple task to bend over, whether seated or standing, and pull a sock over the foot.
But for people with disabilities or with conditions that temporarily or permanently cause limited mobility and range of motion, putting on a pair of socks can be either extraordinarily difficult, or impossible. As a result, such impaired people may either require assistance to put on socks, or not put on socks at all. Take, for example, a person with a back injury who is unable to bend over at the waist due to the injury. For a person having this disability, it can be near impossible to put a sock their foot in the usual way since bending over to put the opening of the sock over the toes requires bending at the waist and reaching downwardly with the arms to manipulate the sock into position. And even if a person with such a back injury can manipulate the sock over his or her foot, that is not the end of the process since the sock must then be pulled upwardly. This kind of pulling motion requires movement of both the arms and straightening of the back. While this movement is inconsequential to most people, again, for those with disabilities it can be very difficult.
Not surprisingly, given the need for apparatus that assist with donning a pair of socks, there are many known devices available. However, there is an ongoing need for devices that aid people who need assistance with putting on socks.
The present invention is a simple device that is easily manipulated by the disabled or elderly or others who need assistance with donning socks. The inventive device is defined by a sock-engaging lower portion that is defined by a longitudinally flexible member that is flexed into a generally frusto-conical shape and onto which a sock is applied. The sock-engaging lower portion includes longitudinally outwardly projecting shoulders that engage the sock to retain the sock in place during use. Immediately adjacent to and contiguous with the sock-engaging lower portion is a heel portion that is flexible transversely to the longitudinal axis along the device and which defines a heel-receiving area where the user's heel is placed when being used. Immediately adjacent to and contiguous with the heel portion is an extended handle portion that the user grasps to pull the entire device upwardly to cause the sock to be properly placed on the user's foot. With the user's toe's inserted into the top of the sock, held open by the lower sock-engaging portion and the user's heel resting in the heel-receiving portion, the device is pulled upwardly by the user and the sock is pulled onto the user's foot in a normal manner. The shoulders on the device cause resistance to the force that tends to pull the sock off the device and the sock is thus pulled onto the user's foot in substantially the same way as the sock would be donned without the device—the sock is released from the shoulders as the resistive force is overcome by the upward pulling action.